Improvement in oil-well tubing



I. N. *HOADLEYZ OIL-WELL TUBING.

` N o 177, 5 O 8 Patented May 16, 18 76.

\ l\ W W v WITNEssEs INVENTOR UNITED 'STATES ATENE EEreE.

ISAAC N. HQADLEY, 0E BUTLER, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIeNoE oF ONE-HALE HIS EIGHT To STEPHENBREDIN, 0E SAME PLAGE. l

l IMPROVEMENT IN `OIL-WELL TUBING.

Specificationforming part of Letters Patent No. 177,508, dated May 16, 1876; application filed April 1, 1876.

-, tion: i

The subject of my invention is a device by which the gas evolved in oil-wells may be economically utilized without interfering with the working of the oil-pump, or with the packing device employed to exclude water from the lower part of the well. lo this end I provide the well-tubing with openings below the Waterpacking, for the discharge of gas from, the lower part of the .well to the interior of the tube. l The invention' further consists in an improved construction of water-packing.

In the accompanying drawing, Figure 1 is a vertical section of the lower portion of a wellitube with my invention applied. Fig. 2 is a horizontal section on the line 2 2, Fig. 1.

A A1 represent the lower two sectionsof the well-tubing, and B the base of the lower section A, to `which is applied the anchor and the cage G containing the check-valve D. E represents the piston working within the tube A, and F the hollow plunger of the Vpump connected therewith. eis the piston-valve. G is the packing, within which the hollow-plunger-rod works. My substitute for the seedv bag or packing ordinarily employed to exclude salt Water or other water from the lower chamber of the well is shown at H, which represents an annular body of rubber or other elastic or compressible material resting on a flange, I, of the well-tube, andexpanded by the Wedge-shaped enda2 of the tube A2, which is secured to the section A1, and is turned down for this purpose after the base ofthe tube A A1 is in position, the base being held from turning by the anchor at the bottomof the well. J J are apertures in the tube A, directly beneath the packing H, to,adm`it gas to the interior of the well-tube from the oilrock at the bottom of the well.

The operation is as follows: Having closed the well from ingress of salt wateror fresh water, the gas is allowed to escape through the -perforations in the tubing, to be used as fuel, and the oil is pumped through the hollow sucker-rod, and discharged into the tanks by attachment of gum pipe, or'in any other suitable manner.

In the ordinary mode of working oil-Wells there is no arrangement by which the salt water is shut` olf and the gasallowed to escape and be used as fuel. The confinement of the gas Within the well is not only a decided injury to the production, but makes the use of coal necessary for fuel, and any seedbag which shuts ott' the water by being attached'to the ordinary well-tubing must necessarily prevent the escape and use of the natural gas.

The large casin g, ve and ve-eighths inches through, to shut off fresh water (which casing is now put in all wells to the depth of about six hundred feet, at an average expense of one dollar and twenty-five cents per foot) was not in general use previous to -the year 1870. Since that time it has been used, and, it

being putin, the well is drilled to the sandrock through this casing. The salt water is met with usually about twelve hundred feet below the surface, and in many places is so disastrous to the proper working of the well asto necessitate the use of smaller casing to that depth, of the diameter of about three and one-fourth inches. The presence of the smalll casing prevents the Well being kept clean, and the frequent use of the tools for that purpose involves a great expense.

`1 It will be obvious from this statement that the plan to shut off the salt water, which alot' wooden sucker-rods and split tubinga frequent cause of annoyance in all wells. To

do this successfully, I attach a seed-bag or.

packing, as specitied, to the ordinary welltubing, below the point of ingress of salt or fresh water, perforate the tubing below the interior of the well-tube above the pump-pisi ton, substantially as described.

2. The combination of the packilnlgrri'f-nagli with the Well-tube sections Al A, the sections g A? being` constructed with a wedge-shaped en d, a2, to: expand the packing when screwed down7 as explained.

3. 'lhe combination of hollow sucker-rod F,

well-tube A A1, the packing-ring H, and the perforationsJ J, to permit the passing of gas lfrom tlewellLtubeinto the' pump-tube above i the pstom audaround the hollow sucker-rod,

as and for the purpose set forth.

LN. HOADLEY.

Witnesses: l

ANDREW G. WILLIAMS, STEPHEN BREDHL.

C. W. COULTER. 

